D.J.

Dunn 1
SOLID MECHANICS

BALANCING

TUTORIAL BALANCING OF ROTATING BODIES

This work covers elements of the syllabus for the Edexcel module
21722P HNC/D Mechanical Principles OUTCOME 4.


On completion of this tutorial you should be able to do the following.

Explain the importance of balancing.

Explain static and dynamic balance.

Solve problems involving coplanar balance.

Solve problems involving balancing in four planes.

Construct vector diagrams.

Use vector resolution to solve problems.

It is assumed that the student is already familiar with the following
concepts.

Angular motion.
Centrifugal force.
Basic vector diagram construction.
Basic trigonometry.

All these above may be found in the pre-requisite tutorials.
D.J.Dunn 2
1. INTRODUCTION

The balancing of rotating bodies is important to avoid vibrations. In heavy industrial
machines such as steam turbines and electric generators, vibration could cause
catastrophic failure. Vibrations are noisy and uncomfortable and when a car wheel is
out of balance, the ride is quite unpleasant. In the case of a simple wheel, balancing
simply involves moving the centre of gravity to the centre of rotation but as we shall
see, for longer and more complex bodies, there is more to it. For a body to be
completely balanced it must have two things.

1. Static Balance. This occurs when there is no resultant centrifugal force
and the centre of gravity is on the axis of rotation.

2. Dynamic Balance. This occurs when there is no resulting turning
moment along the axis.

2. BALANCING IN ONE PLANE

If the system is a simple disc then
static balance is all that is needed.
Consider a thin disc or wheel on
which the centre of gravity is not the
same as the centre of rotation. A
simple test for static balance is to
place the wheel in frictionless
bearings. The centre of gravity will
always come to rest below the centre
of rotation (like a pendulum). If it is
balanced it will remain stationary no
matter which position it is turned to. Figure 1

If the centre of gravity is distance r from the centre of rotation then when it spins at
rad/s, centrifugal force is produced. This has a formula C.F.= M
2
r where M is the
mass of the disc. This is the out of balance force. In order to cancel it out an equal and
opposite force is needed. This is simply done by adding a mass M
2
at a radius r
2
as
shown. The two forces must have the same magnitudes.
M
2
r = M
2

2
r
2

M r = M
2
r
2


Placing a suitable mass at a suitable
radius moves the centre of gravity to
the centre of rotation. This balance
holds true at all speeds down to zero
hence it is balanced so long as the
products of M and r are equal and
opposite.
Figure 2
D.J.Dunn 3
Now consider that our disc is out of balance because there are three masses attached
to it as shown. The 3 masses are said to be coplanar and they rotate about a common
centre.

The centrifugal force acting on each mass is
F = M r
2
. The radius of rotation is r and the
angular velocity is in radians/second. The force
acting on each one is hence

F
1
=M
1
r
1

2
F
2
=M
2
r
2

2
F
3
=M
3
r
3

2




Figure 3

These are vector quantities and we can add them up to find the resultant force as
shown.

Figure 4

If the system was balanced, there would be no resultant force so the force needed to
balance the system must be equal and opposite of the resultant (the vector that closes
the polygon). The balancing mass M
4
is then added at a suitable radius and angle such
that the product M r is correct.

Figure 5
D.J.Dunn 4

The result obtained would be the same whatever the value of and when = 0 we
have static balance. In order to make the solution easier, we may make = 1 and
calculate M r for each vector. This is called the M r polygon or vector diagram.

Note that angles will be given in normal mathematical terms with anticlockwise being
positive from the x axis as shown.

Figure 6


WORKED EXAMPLE No.1

Three masses A, B and C are placed on a balanced disc as shown at radii of
120 mm, 100 mm and 80 mm respectively. The masses are 1 kg, 0.5 kg and 0.7
kg respectively. Find the 4
th
mass which should be added at a radius of 60 mm in
order to statically balance the system.

Figure 7
SOLUTION

First draw up a table to calculate the value of M r for each mass.

Mass radius M r
A 1 120 120
B 0.5 100 50
C 0.7 80 56
D M
D
60 60 M
D


Draw the M r polygon to find the value of M r for the 4
th
mass.

D.J.Dunn 5


Figure 8

The resultant is 144.3 kg mm and is equal to 60M
D
.
The mass required is 144.3/60 = 2.4 kg 208
o
anticlockwise of A as shown.



SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No. 1

Find the 4
th
mass that should be added at a radius of 50 mm in order to statically
balance the system shown.

Mass A is 1 kg at 100 mm radius.
Mass B is 1.5 kg at 75 mm radius
Mass C is 2.0 kg at 90 mm radius.

Figure 9

Answer 0.52 kg at 156
o
clockwise from A.


D.J.Dunn 6
3. MASSES NOT IN THE SAME PLANE

Consider 2 masses statically balanced as shown but acting at different places along
the axis.

Figure 10
For static balance M
A
r
A
= M
B
r
B

It is clear that even with static balance, centrifugal force will produce a turning
moment about the centre of gravity for the system. In this simple case, the problem is
solved by adding equal and opposite forces at the two points as shown.

Figure 11

Consider the turning moment due to a single mass.

Figure 12
D.J.Dunn 7
The centrifugal force produced is F = Mr
2
The turning moment about the reference plane = T.M. = F x = Mr
2
x
For dynamic and static balance we must work out the resultant turning moment and
add masses at appropriate points to cancel it out. The appropriate points will be on
two planes not coplanar with any of the original masses. This involves drawing two
vector diagrams and since is common to all vectors we can again take =1 and
draw vectors representing Mr and Mrx. This is best explained with a worked example.


WORKED EXAMPLE No.2

Find the mass and the angle at which it should be positioned in planes A and D at
a radius of 60 mm in order to produce complete balance of the system shown.

Figure 13

SOLUTION

Note that the diagram has been drawn with B vertical. It is a good idea to always
start by making one of the known masses horizontal or vertical to make the
construction of the vector diagrams easier. All angles should be expressed in
absolute terms.

Plane A is the reference plane. All values of x are measured from plane A thus
making Mrx for A equal to zero. It follows that it does not appear in the vector
diagram. Make up a table as follows leaving unknowns as symbols.

M r Mr x Mrx
A M
A
60 60M
A
0 0
B 5 75 375 200 75 000
C 2 50 100 300 30 000
D M
D
60 60M
D
375 22 500M
D

D.J.Dunn 8

Now draw a polygon of Mrx vectors in order to find the value of Mrx at D. Start
with B in this case because it is vertical.

Figure 14
Scaling the vector D which closes the triangle we find
Mrx for D = 94 000 = 22 500 M
D
Hence M
D
= 94000/22500 = 4.17 kg and it is positioned 254o

Now we calculate Mr for D.
Mr for D = 4.178 x 60 = 250.68.

Next we draw the polygon for the Mr values as shown.

Figure 15

The vector which closes the polygon represents Mr for point A
Mr for A is 195.
60M
A
= 195 M
A
= 195/60 = 3.25 kg at 6
o
to the vertical.

The answer is best shown with an end view.




D.J.Dunn 9



Figure 16




D.J.Dunn 10


SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No. 2

1. A shaft has 4 discs A, B, C and D along its length 100 mm apart. A mass of 0.8
kg is placed on B at a radius of 20 mm. A mass of 2 kg is placed on C at a
radius of 30 mm and rotated 120
o
from the mass on B. Finf the masses to be
placed on A and D at a radius of 25 mm that wil produce total balance.
(Answers 0.696 kg and 1.52 kg)


2. The diagram below shows masses on two rotors in planes B and C. Determine
the masses to be added on the rotors in planes A and D at radius 40 mm which
will produce static and dynamic balance.( 1.9 kg at 177
o
and 2.2 kg at 141
o
)



Figure 17



D.J.Dunn 11
4 SOLUTION BY USING VECTOR RESOLUTION

A more accurate approach to solving the vector diagrams in the preceding work is to
resolve each vector into vertical and horizontal components. The resultant vector is
then found by adding these components. Consider worked example No.1 again.


Figure 18

Each vector has a component in the x direction given by Mr cos and in the y
direction it is MRsin

Figure 19

Work out these for each vector and include it in the table.

Mass radius M r Mr cos MRsin
A 1 120 120 0
o
120 0
B 0.5 100 50 30
o
43.3 25
C 0.7 80 56 130
o
-36 42.9
Totals 127.3 67.9

The resultant vector has x and y components of 127.3 and 67.9. This can be solved
with Pythagoras. Resultant Mr = (127.3
2
+ 67.9
2
)

= 144.3 kg mm as before. The

mass required is 144.3/60 = 2.4 kg.
The angle = atan (67.9/127.3) or tan
-1
(67.9/127.3) = 28
o


The balancing force is 180o anticlockwise of this so the balancing mass must be
placed at an angle of 208
o
.
D.J.Dunn 12
Here is the solution to worked example No.2 using the same method.

Mass radius M r x Mrx
A M
A
60 60 M
A
0 0 unknown
B 5 75 375 200 75000 90
C 2 50 100 300 30000 30
D M
D
60 60 M
D
375 22500 M
D
unknown

MRx cos MRxsin If balanced, the totals must be zero
A 0 0 so the unknown values may be
B 0 75000 deduced.
C 25980 15000
D -25980 -90000
Totals 0 0

Resultant Mrx for D = (25980
2
+ 90000
2
)

= 93670
This is the value for D so 22500 M
D
= 93670 M
D
=9360/22500 = 4.16 kg
= tan
-1
(90000/25980) = 73.98
o
so the true angle is 180
o
+ 73.98
o
= 253.8
o


Now fill in the table for the Mr values. Again the totals must be zero so we can
deduce the values for A.

M r M r Mr cos MRsin

A M
A
60 60 M
A
-17.3 -240
B 5 75 375 90 0 375
C 2 50 100 30 86.6 50
D 4.167 60 250 253.8
o
-69.3 -240
Totals 0 0

Resultant Mr vector is (17.3
2
+ 185
2
)

= 185.8 and this is equal to 60 MA.

M
A
= 185.8/60 = 3.1 kg

= = tan
-1
(185/17.3) = 84.6
o
so the true angle is 180
o
+ 84.6
o
= 264.6
o


This gives a more accurate answer than that produced by drawing and scaling.